Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-11-23
LIVE STOCK NOTES.
Texas Stockmen Are Preparing to Feed
Their Beef in the Indian Territory
During the Winter
Something About the Street Car Animals OF
Fort Worih-The Farmers Are ImproV-
Ing Thcir aozse Stock.

Fort Worih-Tho Farmers Are lmproV-
Ing Their 3orse Stock.
Mr.. J. D. Baker, Granbury stockman,
was in Fort Worth last night.
-
MID. A. Holman, prominently con-
nected with stock interests in the Pan
handle, was in the city yesterday.
Mr.. Cheek of Tarrant county pur-
chased g fire team OF rosd horses from
Dulaney, Wilson & Msupin yesterday.
50
Numerous railroad outfits in the city
disposiug Of their animals has a tendency
to deures3 the markets Tor that stock just
now.
Mr.. T. G. Hunt, q stockmsp OF Ranger,
Yves in the city yesterday. There is plenty
of water in his section, he says, notWith-
standing the lack of rain lately.
~
Extensive preparations are being made
st Polk Bros stock yards for the accom-
mediation Of what are expected to be
heavy shipments Of feeding cattle over
the Santa Fe road during the approaching
HlnkGI. udb l1IC Will SlA4y ACa14y OLA
cattle intended for Kansas feeding. Al
ready it is getting & great many from the
Panhandle, the shipments being made
either from Henrietta or Gainesville.
The greGt bulk of Texas feeders, how
ever, are going into the Indian Territory
this fall, instead of Kansas, as heretofore,
and that stste is feeling the boomerang
action OF her unfriendly policy towards
Ma
ton seems to be the favored
spot with Texas cattlemen. Feed
in that part of the Territory is cheap, the
farmers there having raised fine crops OF
corn and having msde large quantities OF
hay in the expectation OF handling great
many feeders this winter.
-
The Vernon Guard doubts very much
whether there ever was time when so
many farmers were thinking seriously OF
improving their horse stock as just now.
The difference in value OF good horses
over common ones, the difference in the
demand, and the many advantages there
are found in handling better class OF
horses, are more apparent every year, and
few farmers there are now anywhere
who have not ell these things brought
under their observations SO fully that they
cannot help feeling like making a change
for the better or quit the business en-
tirely. Figures won't lie, snd when one
kind of g horse sells fer two or three
times as much IS another, the percentage
of gain shows clearly where the profits
lie, and all the figures that can be pro-
duced cannot change the result. II there
is one place above another in which the
gain upon the income of the farm can be
Increased, 1t certainly is in improving the
farm stock, and horses are no exception
to this rule.
-
There is G great deal of compassion eX-
pended by the kind hearted people who
ride in street cars over the animals which
haul the coaches-more, indeed, than
would appear to be the need of those
patient brutes. To the ordinary passen-
ger the mules which draw him to-day on
one line OF road seem the same ss drew
MIN yesterday on another line, for he does
not think about the matter but has an
indistinct idea Of it fit across his mind,
The animals al lock alike TO him. He
never sees them stop TO rest, and unc0n-
sciously feeling of compassion steals
over him for what he considers the over
worked and, of course, the under-ted
street-car mules. To ascertain what
sort Of life these animals lead,
reporter yesterday repaired to
some OF the stables and inquired
sitter the facts. There are in Fort Worth
three stsbles st which are kept constant
ly from 100 to $50 mules, which draw the
street cars of the city. Each company
has ranch outside the city at which it
keeps extrs animals and w1ere it sends
any that msy need little recupersting.
The stables of the Rosedale Company are
the largest IN the city, having stalls for
eighty-six head and the manner of work
there will serve to show how the others
operate. Each team works two hours st
q time during the day, and is laid of for
four hours, that is they are worked a
third OF the time; and days work is 1G
hours. During the two hours they are on
they run eleven miles. The Sc hesd al
this stable consume 500 pounds OF hay
each day and Sc bushels of oats,
corn and bran. The mules have clean
stables, comfortable as q livery stable.
For the purposes of street railway service
the animals ere generally bought at the
age of four or FIVE, and are sometimes
kept at work till they die Of old age, but
are more often traded Of when they be-
come unfit for the work; and sometimes
even then If they are allowed TO Craze
around little and pick up spirits they
last for many day longer. If the sni-
NAL is the right kind for the work, how
ever, it can hold its grip to good old
sge. The right kind would appear TO be
one between 600 and 700 pounds in weight.
A mule over that weight cannot stand the
gait required and 6 heavy mule would
break down in week.